Flames Game Day Central - Liberty vs. Western Carolina

The Flames begin their final homestand of the 2006 season when they host the Catamounts of Western Carolina on Saturday at Williams Stadium. Kickoff for the non-conference game is set for 1 p.m.

Saturday could be a historic day in the annals of Flames Athletics as Liberty enters the day needing just 3,523 more fans to surpass the 1,000,000 mark in all-time home attendance. Liberty is having a banner year in attendance as the Flames rank 11th nationally in home attendance according to stadium capacity as Liberty is filling its stadium at 99.3 percent over the first four home games of the year.

Liberty is coming off its third-straight close loss as the Flames fell, 28-26, to 22nd-ranked Coastal Carolina last weekend in Conway, S.C. Liberty has lost is last three games by a combined six points and its last six Big South Conference games by 22 total points (an average of 3.7 per game).

Western Carolina started the year off strong with a pair of victories, including a 20-17 win over 19th-ranked Eastern Kentucky. However, since the upset, the Catamounts have come up on the short end of the stick in six-straight games, and they enter Saturday's game with a 2-6 overall record.

The road doesn't get much easier for Western Carolina either as the Catamounts next face Appalachian State, the nation's top ranked I-AA program, followed by Florida, who currently ranks seventh in the latest I-A BCS standings, the last week of the year.

Offensively, running back Darius Fudge leads the team with 802 yards rushing and four touchdowns, and quarterback Bennett Swygert paces the passing game as he has completed 80-of-140 pass attempts for 815 yards and five touchdowns.

Linebacker Shelton Gaffney leads the Catamounts' defense with 58 tackles, while fellow linebacker Kadeem Morgan ranks second on the team with 50 stops.